We enjoy a rare dry June day in Minnesota today. A fresh northerly breeze brings a dry comfortable air mass from Canada.

Sunny skies, fresh breezes and no swarm of weather warnings in the Upper Midwest today? Nice.

The only thing we’re tracking on doppler is a growing swarm of mosquitoes.

The weekend forecast is coming into clearer focus, and it looks better for several dry hours from Saturday afternoon through Sunday.

And we’re following a distinct warming trend…summer is finally here this weekend and next week.

Where’s the boat?

On this day in Minnesota weather history…

1991: Lightning struck a tree at the U.S. Open golf tournament in Chaska, MN. One spectator was killed, and 6 people were injured ( I was live on the air at WCCO-TV with severe T-Storm warnings before and during this event)

1968: The 13 mile long path of an F5 tornado took it directly through Tracy, MN. Nine people were killed and 111 homes destroyed. Farms outside of town were swept completely away, two of which had been hit by a tornado 44 years earlier

1930: Tornado hits Northfield area, heavy damage at Randolph.

78F average high today at MSP Airport

78F forecast high today at MSP

Blissfully Average:

The average high today in the metro is 78 degrees, and hits 80F on Monday.

“Extreme Weather” sells headlines lately…but you won’t hear any of that from me in Minnesota today. For once…we get to enjoy mid-June the way it should be. Plenty of sun and temps in the upper 70s…almost perfect.

Weekend Looks Better:

The weekend forecast is coming into clearer focus, and it looks better.

A soggy front rolls n Friday night…and lingers into Saturday morning. It looks like we may see a drying trend Saturday afternoon through Sunday. High should make the low 80s…much more like summer.

Summery Next Week:

The GFS and Euro model hints at warmer temps next week. I don’t see any big 90 degree heat waves in sight just yet, but a few 80s look likely next week as summer takes hold.

Here’s’ the Euro forecast.

Soggy June: Drought Fades

It has rained 8 of 12 (75%) of the days in June. Here’s the NWS climo data for MSP Airport.

That’s good news for today’s updated Drought Monitor.

Derecho rolls east:

The massive derecho that started in southeast Minnesota Wednesday rolled through Chicago, Indy, Cleveland, all the way to D.C. this morning.

18 tornadoes and 150 damaging wind reports have rolled into SPC with this system.

About the blogger

Paul Huttner is chief meteorologist for Minnesota Public Radio. Huttner has worked TV and radio stations in Minneapolis, Tucson and Chicago. Paul is a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul and holds a bachelor’s degree in geography with an emphasis in meteorology.